"Consider how thin such fame is and how unimportant. it is well known,
and you have seen it demonstrated by astronomers, that beside the extent of
the heavens, the circumferences of the earth has the size of a point; that
is to say, compared with the magnitude of the celestial sphere, it may be
thought of as having no extent at all. The surface of the world, then, is
small enough, and of it, as you have learnt from the geographer Ptolemy,
approximately one quarter is inhabited by living beings known to us. If from
this quarter you subtract in your mind all that is covered by sea and
marshes and the vast areas of desert by lack of moisture, then scarcely the
smallest of regions is left for men to live in. This is the tiny point
within a point, shut in and hedged about, in which you think of spreading
your fame and extending your renown."

-Boethius

"What rage for fame attends both great and

small!

Better be damned than mentioned not at all!"

-Peter Pindar

"The desire for fame is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise."

-Cornelius Tacitus Roman Historian

"It is the nature of ambition to make men liars and cheaters, to hide the
truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their
mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own
interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will."

-Sallust First great Roman historian

"Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull everywhere. He was
dull in a new way, and that made people think him great."

-Samuel Johnson

AMBITION,n An overwhelming desire to be vilified by enemies while living
and made ridiculous by friends when dead.*

Ambrose Bierce

Devil's Dictionary

Book: "Dan Rice: The Most Famous Man You've Never Heard Of" by
David Carlyon

Book: A Short History of Celebrity" by Fred Inglis

Book: "Every-one loves you When You're Dead: Journeys Into Fame and
Madness"* by Neil Strauss